Mud and Five Year Olds
by Dixie Dewdrop
Summary: What makes a family a family? Jethro reflects on five year old Tony and the people who have shared his life. This is part of my Fate series.
1. Home

Home

NCIS Agent Jethro Gibbs entered his kitchen through the back door, and grinned as his senses picked up on the state of his household. First, he took in the sight of a roasted chicken ready to be carved, cooling on the granite counter. Simmering on the stove were vegetables that he didn't bother to investigate as he moved further towards the table, his attention attracted to something on the kitchen floor.

Inspecting further, he noted a line of little boy clothes plus a pair of tiny tennis shoes covered completely in wet mud, making a trail towards the laundry room.

Listening carefully, he caught his son Tony's voice coming from the upstairs bathroom, intertwined with the replies of his housekeeper, Maria.

It didn't take long to guess that Tony, a very active little five year old, had found the last mudpuddles which hadn't yet dried from the early afternoon shower, and had landed in each and every one.

Maria had obviously stripped him down in the kitchen when he got home, and then hauled him bodily upstairs to be bathed.

Jethro cut the heat off of the vegetables and then carefully carried the jeans, underwear, sweatshirt, and shoes into the laundry room. The apparel was so covered in muck that he briefly contemplated trashing all of it.

He regarded the mess with a critical eye. Obviously, the wisest choice would be to send everything through a pre-wash before the actual wash- Tony hadn't left one inch of his clothing mud free.

Gibbs checked the jean pockets thoroughly and pulled out Tony's latest treasures- a couple of rocks, one Hershey candy silver bell, a quarter, and a broken black crayon. Setting them aside with a smile, he started the load of clothes and headed towards the bathroom, hanging his jacket over a living room chair.

He could hear Tony's sputtering protests before he made it to the second floor.

"Abuela, por favor- we already washed my hair. Ya me lavé el pelo esta semana! I am squeaky clean now all over. I don't want to wash my hair anymore!"

When Maria failed to stop he wailed dramatically, "You are going to scrub all of me down the drain!"

Jethro winced in sympathy as he entered the bathroom. Tony was standing up in the bathtub, head thrown back and clutching a washcloth to cover his eyes, as Maria poured a pitcher of water over his shampooed head.

"Tony, quédate quieto. Estoy casi terminado. If you stay still I will finish faster. The mud is almost gone." Maria finished rinsing and took over wiping the excess water from his face. "Now, bambino, you are clean."

"No, I'm not a bambino any more, remember I'm in school now, Abuela." Spying his father, Tony's face broke into his trademark spectacular smile. "Daddy, save me! Abuela is trying to scrub my skin off!"

Gibbs laughed and gave Maria a pat as she moved away from the tub to let him greet his son. Maria handed him a clean towel and Gibbs grabbed Tony and wrapped him quickly, tickling him as he did so.

Maria smiled and began the bathroom clean up, but ordered as they passed, "Put him in his pajamas, Agent Gibbs. He does not need more clothes."

Gibbs nodded and carried Tony the rest of the way to the boy's bedroom. Pretending that he was going to throw him on the bed, he swung him teasingly and then dropped him to the bed from a safe distance. Tony laughed and rolled to the middle of the bed, discarding the towel.

Rummaging in the bureau for pajamas, Gibbs grabbed a blanket sleeper adorned with cars and trains and Tony's lip immediately began to creep out to a pout.

"Daddy, no! I am too big to wear baby pajamas. Those are for wee lads. I don't want to wear that. I'm not a wee lad anymore!"

Gibbs noted the use of Scots vocabulary and the Mallard influence before he answered firmly, "You don't get a choice here. It's going to be very cold tonight, and these are the warmest."

Tony backed towards the headboard and shook his head in the negative.

"One..." Gibbs countered, holding up his forefinger. He reached for Tony.

Tony scowled but moved further back.

"Two..." Gibbs responded, then added, "You know that if I get to three, you are going to get a spanking, remember?" He stared meaningfully and Tony met his gaze, green eyes assessing his father's blue ones.

Gibbs thought he could actually see the moment Tony decided that the pajamas weren't worth a spanking.

He walked to the middle of the bed and sat down, pulling on the underwear his father handed him, then shot up to jump up and down on the bed as his father caught him to put him in one leg, then the other, then both arms of the dreaded pajamas.

Finally zipped, Gibbs brushed Tony's sweet smelling hair quickly, swatted him softly on the bottom, and told him to head down to supper.

Tony took off running, and Jethro heard him fall to the floor on the landing so he could coast down the stairs on his tummy, then heard the thump and laugh when he hit bottom.


	2. Home and Hearth

Home and Hearth

Sighing, Gibbs straightened the bed and closed the pajama drawer. He knew Tony wanted very badly to mimic all things "big boy" and that blanket sleepers didn't cut it, and in truth, he sympathized.

However, Tony actively moved all over the bed as he slept, dislodging sheets and covers in his path.

Gibbs smiled at the memory of Shannon, his wife and Tony's mother, coming home with a shopping bag full of blanket sleepers. Defending her purchase she told her husband that she couldn't sleep thinking that her kids were in the throes of hypothermia.

Then drawing her husband into an embrace, she kissed him into silence and agreement over the very costly bed clothes.

Jethro sat down on Tony's bed and took a moment to acknowledge Shannon, and their little girl, Kelly. Both had been killed in a freak hit and run car accident two years before.

Tony's voice calling him from the landing startled him from the memory.

Jethro got up, and he joined Maria and Tony in the kitchen. Tony had helped to set the table and Gibbs picked him up and slid him in his booster seat for the meal.

Maria was a godsend. She had begun working for the family a full year before the tragedy, and Jethro honestly thought he would have lost his mind without her quiet, practical help and unwavering support.

In her fifties now, she remained a positive force in both their lives. Twenty years before she began work with the Gibbs, her husband had died and left her a modest amount of money. There were no children.

She had made her way from Mexico to Washington, DC, legally, a fact she liked to point out in conversations, and had lived in the new country quite a number of years before applying to become their housekeeper.

She had a small rented apartment not too far from the Gibbs' residence, and now that Tony was in kindergarten, worked with them from two to seven each afternoon. That was an hour before Tony returned from school, and allowed Jethro the luxury of knowing that his son was well cared for until he returned from work.

The three always ate supper together before she departed for her own home. Tony refused to call her Maria, or Mrs. Osirio, for that matter, and addressed her as "Abuela"- grandmother.

Jethro gave up correcting him, and marvelled instead at how fluent Tony was in Spanish. The child spoke to Maria in a mixture of Spanish and English, and seemed to have a genius for the language that his father didn't share.

Tony adored Maria, and the feeling was mutual. She managed to run their household and supervise Tony with a mixture of discipline, love, and perception.

After they ate chicken, homemade pico de gallo, yellow rice, and butterbeans, Gibbs told Maria to go ahead and make it an early work night. Wiping chocolate milk off of Tony's mouth, he promised to clean up the kitchen and finish the laundry.

Reluctantly Maria agreed, but it took a couple of reminders about household issues and a series of kisses for Tony before she finally left.

After supper Tony helped Gibbs clear the table, chattering away about his day at school. Apparently, Tony was the champion at climbing monkey bars, and was also the first one awake from naptime today.

While Gibbs loaded the dishwasher, Tony pulled over a chair from the table, topped it with his booster seat, climbed on the counter, and searched for the chocolate chip cookies he knew Maria had hidden in the depths of the cabinets.

Jethro raised an eyebrow and Tony giggled, putting his finger to his lips to show his father it was a secret.

Once he had helped himself to two of the treats, Gibbs pulled him down and told him to get his school papers.

Tony brought his Superman bookbag while at the same time he pretended to fly like an airplane, moving his arms like wings and making engine noises.

Gibbs settled in the living room recliner, and Tony changed to hopping from one foot to the other as Gibbs thumbed quickly through the selection of papers to find the day's conduct sheet.

Smiling in relief, he grabbed Tony and kissed his forehead, announcing, "A smiley face- I am proud of you, Anthony! That means you didn't get into any trouble at all today!"

Tony beamed in return and followed his dad as Jethro returned to the kitchen and made room for the paper on the refrigerator. Grabbing a pen off the counter he hastily added the date, and then picked Tony up and danced with him back to the living room.

It was a rare day, indeed, for Tony to be given such a conduct report. Though not actually bad, Tony was mischievous, liked to entertain the class, was popular with both the girls and the boys, and was a very active child!

While he grabbed the latest issue of _Sniper Monthly _and settled in his chair to read, Tony settled on the floor to watch a Shirley Temple movie he had discovered on the Turner Network.

Gibbs glanced up. It looked like _Pardon My Pups,_ so Tony would enjoy it.

A half hour later Jethro sent Tony to use the bathroom and brush his teeth. Upon his return, Tony climbed in his daddy's lap and made himself comfortable, once again watching the progress of the movie.

Within ten minutes Gibbs felt his child's weight shift and sneaked a look. Sure enough, Tony's eyes were flickering sleepily.

Gibbs grabbed the remote and powered off the television, then eased up to a standing position while holding his son.

Tony's eyes flew wide open and he began arguing that he wasn't sleepy, wasn't tired, and wasn't ready for bed, but Gibbs ignored the observations and carried him to his bed and put him under the covers.

Listening to his son's prayers always gave Gibbs a start, because Tony, without fail, began with his nightly prayer with, "Dear God, and Jesus, and Mommy, and Kelly..."

After prayers, Gibbs read _The Cat in the Hat_, one of Tony's favourites, and then kissed him goodnight. Cutting off the lamp by Tony's bed and checking the baby monitor, he backed out of the door as Tony blew him a kiss and then turned over to snuggle deeper into the bed.


	3. Home, Hearth, and Where the Heart Is

Home and Hearth, and Where the Heart Is

Gibbs straightened up the living room and cut off the lights before heading to the basement, where he poured himself a shot of bourbon and checked to make sure he had the monitor operating in the basement.

Tony pointed out to his daddy several times a week that he was no longer a baby and shouldn't have a baby monitor, but Gibbs knew that he couldn't lose himself in the relaxation and freedom of the basement if he couldn't swear that Tony was sleeping safely and soundly.

So, the monitor stayed, and he worked alongside the sound of his son's soft breathing.

Helping himself to a piece of sandpaper, Gibbs began to smooth an area of the boat he'd finished and mentally reviewed his day at work. As a NCIS special agent his job demanded intelligence, leadership, and skills, and certainly he had them all. A former Marine, the discipline of his career was probably what he liked best.

In truth, he realized that he was short tempered and tended to work solo or go rogue. He supervised a team of three junior agents, and they worked well together, nevertheless. NCIS had promised him that no more than two weeks of each year would be spent out of pocket, a carrot they dangled each year to get him to stay with the agency.

It was vitally important to him to not leave Tony for long periods, and with the exception of ten days in Paris last year, he had not been away overnight in several months.

Jackson Gibbs, Jethro's father, lived in Stillwater, Pennsylvania, where he'd grown up. Jack loved having Tony visit, and usually Tony would willingly stay with his grandfather for a two or three day visit.

In addition, the medical examiner at NCIS, Doctor Donald Mallard, and his mother, Victoria, had hosted Tony for several overnights over the years. They adored him, and enjoyed having him liven their quiet household.

Tony, though, was his daddy's boy. By day two of a visit with anyone, he was demanding loudly and often to be returned to his father, and to his own house. He was much less homesick with Maria, but even then, his father's absence would upset him badly, and he would seek one reassurance after another that his father was returning.

The longer Gibbs was away, the more Tony's behaviour declined, and the more obvious it became to everyone that he needed his father's physical presence. In France last year Gibbs found himself longing to get back to his little boy as well, and he was plagued with guilt that Tony was experiencing the loss of yet another parent, temporary or not.

An hour later Gibbs snapped out of his reverie, stopped working on the boat, and called it a night. He stiffly climbed the basement steps into the laundry room and stopped to send Tony's discarded clothes through a real wash cycle, making a mental note to remember to put them in the dryer the following morning. Cutting out the lights he made his way up the stairs to the top floor which housed the bedrooms.

Slipping into Tony's room he found the covers on the floor and Tony curled into a ball at the bottom of the bed. He repositioned both the bedding and the child and covered Tony again, mentally giving himself a pat on the back for holding out on the blanket sleeper. Kissing his son on the forehead he brushed back Tony's bangs and took a minute to drink in his features, a mixture of both Shannon's and his own.

Tony had inherited Shannon's shimmery green eyes and long eyelashes, but had gotten his hair color and lean physique from his father. His hair color was usually brown, but got decidedly blonder during springs and summers as he spent more and more time outdoors.

Tiny for his age, Jethro still privately worried that Tony would be petite, like his mother.

Dr. Mallard, or Ducky to Jethro, assured him that the opposite was true, and the paediatrician agreed. Tony would eventually have a growth spurt, and would probably be six feet or taller in adulthood.

He didn't close the bedroom door all the way so that Tony could see the hall nightlight if he woke in the middle of the night.

Heading straight into the master bathroom, Jethro took a long, hot shower, allowing the pulsing water to relax his tired muscles. Reviewing the day, he concluded that his world was ok, and he was managing very well.

Finally he slipped into his own bed and under his own covers, and before he could even change positions, fell into his own deep sleep.


End file.
